




ADDRESSES 




AT THE 



nsr^uauR^Tioisr 



OF 



REY. H. D. KITCHEL, D. D., 



PRESIDENT OF MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE. 




MIDDLEBURY: 

REGISTER BOOK AND JOB PRINTING ESTABLISHJVIENT. 

1866. 




ADDRESSES 



AT TlIK 



i:n"^xjg-xjr^tio:n 



OF 



EEY. H. D. IITCHEL, D. D., 



PRESIDENT OF MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE. 



MIDDLEBURY: 

Ke4iSTER BOO:k: and job printing ESTABtlSIIMENr. 

1866. 



h 1 



^ '(06 






A D D R E:S S 



OF 



HEV. B. L^B A-REE, B. B., 

RETIIUNG JPRE&JQDENT. 



Mr. pRESirffiNT : 

I am instructed by ihe Trustees oF 
Middlebury College to express to you the sineere^ratifioation which 
your acce;ptance of the Presidency has afforded them, and to greet 
^ou with a cordial welcome to the Institution. 

With the character and history of the College, you are already 

familiar. You have .studied in its halls, you have taught in its 

class-rooms, you have received its honors ; and though its present 

officers and fellows may be strangers to .you, yet you are not 

unknown to them. Middlebiiry College, in whatever forms incor- 

^porated, never forgets her sons — she remembers with conscious 

^ride, she .follows with lively interest, those especially, who reflect 

Jionor upon her name. We welcome you then, Sir, not as a stranger 

xoming among strangers, but as a son and brothor returning to the 

old homestead after many years of honorable service in the cause of 

humanity, of literature, and of religion. Full of the ardent hopes 

and bright anticipations of youth, you took leave of your Alma 

Mater to engage in the duties and active scenes of life — in mature 

jnanhood you return, obedient to her command, with mind and heart 

enlarged by experience and improved by study, and offer to her 

^aarvice the richest, ripest fojts of your mental and moral industry. 

You come to her not as a temporary visitor to inquire after her 

welfare, ajpeak to her a few words of friendly greeting and encour- 

«,gement, and then go your way — you come to make with her your 

permanent abode— to preside over her household — with a strong, 



filial arm to support her steps, and ^^ith prudent counsels to g,\jide 
her future destin'es. She hails your return. Sir, with joyfulness,; 
she accepts your service \vith gratitude. 

I shall presume that a few remarks respecting the Institution 
jyill not be deemed unsuitable to the occasion. 

Midd{ebury College, it is well known, is not. among the largest 

gf our literary Institutions. It can neither boast o^its wealth nor 

of its numbers. ■ Unfortunately it v<^as never established on a firm 

^financial basis, ^nd fqr more |}ian half a century it has experienced 

.many alternations of hope an4 fear, of darkne^^ and light. Indeed 

there have been periods whei;i some, of its best friends have feared 

-that the Institution must yield tp the pressure of events and ce^^e 

fto have a napae among the Colleges of the land ; at the same time, 

.earnest, resplute hearts have c^^rished unwavering confidence ^u 

its final triumph over all opposing , forces. 

It was the remark pf an excellent clergyman in this vicinity, 
now gone to his rest, that Middlebury College was the Lord's Col- 
lege and lie )vould take care of it. Though the Institution has 
.sometimes been called to pass und^r the frown of Providence, it has 
also enjoyed, in a large degree, his gentle smiles. In these days 
,God works not by miraculous agency, but selects appropriate 
instrumentalities to accomplish his benign purposes — and the one 
^elected for ^|he support and upbuilding of Middlebury College is 
ihe people. I would therefore amend the epigram of our departed 
patron and friend and would have it thus : " Middlebury College 
IS the College of God a^td the people ^^ — the people as the chosen 
instrument of his favor. 

I >'ell remember th^t, when considering the question of accepting 
,.the Presidency of the Cpllege twei;ity-six years ago, I consulted a 
-judicious friend, stating tp him what I had heard of the embarrass- 
ments of the Institutipn and the discouragements of its friends ; he 
promptly replied ; " Accept the office Sir ; fear not ; the Institu- 
tion will live,.— the christian people of New England will not suffer 
one of their colleges to die." After many years of observation 
and reflection I am prepared to endorse this sentiment with slight 
modification. Let a college prove by its record that it is worthy of 
confidence — let it be well established and safely gViarded in its re- 



•;ligious principles, an^ ^p intelligent christian people ^^ill not per-* 
jpiit it to become extinc.t. Middlebury College ha3 si^ch a record, 
and is thus established pid guarded; and therefore we assuredly be- 
lieve that the people will sustain it. .Only let her guardians and 
officers be true to her character, to her traditions, to her generous 
benefactors, and the College will neither die, nor will it go through 
the strange process of transmigration into some other College. It 
has an independent soul of its own, and we believe that soul and 
body will remain united in affectionate harmony for ages to come. 

If then we have not all the silver and gold that is needed, we 
^have an excellent substitute — the College is embedded in the hearts 
..of an intelligent people. Its character is known through the 
land : — far away I have found christian men familiar with its his- 
j-tory, highly appreciating its services to church and State, and ready 
to respond liberally to its calls upon their benevolence. Nor can it 
be said in this case that "distance lends enchantment to the view."^ 
Late events have fully confirmed what indeed was previously known^ 
that the Institution has a multitude of earnest, warm-hearted friends 
and supporters in the State of Vermont, but no where can truer, 
.£rmer friends be found than in this good County of Addison ; not 
among the educated alone, nor among men of great wealth alone, 
but among the intelligent, enterprising, .t^ifty farmers. In our 
.severest trials, we{h^,ve never appealed to them in vain. I love t(\ 
hear them speak of 02ir College, to tell of their fathers, brothers, 
sons and friends, who were educated at Middlebury, and point to 
the places of distinguished usefulness which they have been called 
to fill. Such men can estimate the value of a College ; they per- 
ceive its relations to the highest interests of Society ; they in -a 
measure feel identified with it, and are at all times ready to promote 
its well-being. Only show them that the true interests of educa- 
tion and of religion require it, and they will honor any reasonable 
drafts upon their benevolence you are disposed to make. 

Is not such a treasure of kind feeling and affectionate regard 
more valuable to an institution than gold and silver and govern- 
ment bonds ? It is like a living, acting, sympathizing friend, who 
ever remembers you, who thinks and works for you in time of need. 
In estimating then, the resources of Middlebury College, we must 



6 

Rot overlook the int^Migent minds, the liberal hands and ^the pray^ 
ing hearts that are ever ready to come to its relief. In this view 
the College stands among; the richest of our Institutions. Two im- 
portant lessons then the history of the past brings to the present : 
The first is, " Trust in God ; the second, Have faith i?i the peo- 
pHer 

As our College emerges from the cloud of difficulties in which it 
has been for some time enveloped, we are happy to recognize many 
tokens of encouragement. The liberality with which the recent 
application for funds has been responded to, is not the leaat among 
these inspiraitlons ,^f hope. Neither Middlebury College nor any 
Institution in Vermont has received from the people, we believe, at 
any one effort, so large an expression of their interest and confi- 
dence. May we not regard it as an approval by patrons and friends 
of the policy pursued by the authorities of the College, in regard 
to the independent existence of the Institution, as well as a voice of 
encouragement to go forward in their work. It is also known to us 
that some gentlemen of wealth have liberal intentions in respect to 
the College. And we may consider as one of the brighter hues in 
this bow of promise, the success that has attended the united and 
cordial invitation to a distinguished son of the College to accept the 
vacant Presidency. 

The office of a College President, even in our,aldes;fc and bes,t en- 
dowed Institutions, is no sinecure, but in the smaller and less rfayor*- 
ed Colleges, the duties are numerous, responsible and arduous^* 
they demand perpetual vigilance and untiring activity. The Presi" 
dent is hy some presumed to know everything, and he is held ac- 
countj^ble for almost everything. Whoever commits a mistake, all 
eyes are directed to him as the embodiment of college power and 
intelligence. The benevolent maxim, " The King can do no 
wrong," is reversed in our case and seems to read thus — "No one 
can do wrong but the King." This is often not a little annoying, 
«nd while there is perhaps no remedy, there is at least some com- 
pensation. If the President is held accountable f^r real or sup^- 
posed wrongs which he did not commit, he is as generously accredit- 
ed with good accomplished, to which others have claims perhaps 
equal to his own. The injustice may thus be neutralized, though 



I believe, two" wrongs can never make a right. Itall goes to slio^f 
however, that the President is a very conspicuous membef of a** 
College community. 

Four Administrations have thus far measured the history of this 
Institution ; to-day we inaugurate the fifth. It is worthy of noticed 
that during the four that hav*e preceded — with presiding officers 
from three different Colleges and scarcely known to each other, 
there has been a remarkable uniformity in the general policy pur- 
sued, one course, one object, one result ; and now that thd 
College is committed to the oversight and administration of a loyal 
son, there need be no apprehehSion that it will deviate from that 
line of direction which has guided its course for sixty-six years. 

I am about to present you, Sir, with the Charter of Middlebury 
College — the instrument that gives it life, that marks out the limits 
of its authority and prescribes general rules for the government of 
its afiairs. It is an excellent charter, broad and liberal, conceding 
as much' indepetidence to the trustees, as is compatible with due 
subordination to the State. The power that created the Corpora^ 
tion has an undoubted right ta^ se6 that they do not transcend the 
limits prescribed, that they da not invade the rights of the individ ' 
rial or the rights of society. With the power to fill vacancies, an'? 
to increase their number to any desirable extent} and with' ampla 
field for freedom of action on every side, the Trustees are alike re- 
moved from fear of political interference on the one hand, and from 
all temptation to disregard rightful authority on the other ; and for' 
more than three score years they have found their rights and privi^ 
leges so liberal and so well defined, that in no instance has it beeri 
necessary, I think, to seek for explanations or modifications from 
the Legislature ; and so carefully have they administered the affairs 
of the Institution within the prescribed limits, that no complaint 
has been made, and so far as I can learn, no apprehension excite(i 
on the part of the people or of the authorities. These facts may 
be regarded as pretty conclusive evidence of the perfectness of our 
Charter. 

This important instrument, Mr. President, is now to be placed in 
your custody ; preserve it with care ; regard it as the organic law 
which is to guide and govern you in youf official conduct as- HeadI 



of the InstiMion. Defend it from all assaults or misrepreserita'- 
tions of open or secret foes, and from all violation or infringement 
of ardent friends, and let it pass to the hands of your successor un- 
impaired, as fair and unsullied as when it came from the hands of 
the Legislature in the last century. 

I also surrender you these keys, which have been in my possess- 
ion for a quarter of a century. Like the sceptre of a monarch, 
they are the insignia of authority. They give you access to the 
inmost reces^^ of College' life and, at the same time, indicate to 
jou the duties you are called to perform. This o?ie opens the' door 
that leads to the class-rooms where your pupils are to be instruct- 
ed. You are to preside over the educkfibn of the young men. 
Though' your duties as instructor may be confined to a particular 
class, or a particular department of studies, your supervisory care 
and wisdom must extend to the whole course of instruction from the 
first lesson of the Freshman to the final examination of the Senior. 
You will have faithful and able associates to whom you can safely 
entrust a large part of the daily routine of class instruction, yet upon 
you devolves the responsibility of knowing how duty is discharged 
of perceiving and correcting mistakes and of suggesting improve- 
ments in ail that afiects the intellectual development and onward 
progress of the college. 

The usefulness and reputation of your College, Sir, will depend 
largely upoii the class-room. Learned professors, large libraries 
and ample endowments, will not necessarily coiititnand respect and 
secure public favor — you must present to your patrons and to the 
world the results of diligent and accurate study — of study too, 
marked by patient and discriminating instruction. The recitation 
room is not the place for popular entertainment, nor for indolent 
repose, but rather for awakening thought and promoting mental 
discipline. That word drill, transferred from the corporeal facul- 
ties to the mental, is the true expression of much of the teacher's 
duty in the class ; and the faithful and assiduous application of it 
alone, will prepare your pupils for the intellectual conflicts of pub- 
lic life to which they are looking forward. 

Geographical position and the proximity of other College^, for- 
bid you to expect large numbers in your classes. Middlebury Col- 



9 

lege must be content with a secondary place in this respect, but it 
by no means follows that she must be inferior to her sister college^ 
as to the intrinsic value of her education. As true manhood is to 
be determined by mind and heart and not by physical proportions 
6r personal adornments, so an Institution will be rightly judged by 
its real worth and not by its outward display or by the numbers on 
its catalogue. Let it be the high purpose, the noble ambition of 
your College to surpass all her contemporaries in the exact thorough- 
ness of her intellectual training, aud she will command the respect 
of all, whatever may be the numbers in her classes or the amount 
of her productive funds. 

This key will give you access to the Executive Chamber and 
the Seat of Judicial Authority. Here the delinquencies of the 
College community are examined and adjudicated. Young men in 
College are like other young men, not worse as many would have 
us believe, but always and everywhere at this period of life, they 
require checks and restraints from tendencies and temptations to 
evil ; and when evil is committed, correction must be wisely ap- 
plied for the prevention of future wrong-doing. This is one of the 
most important', and at the same time one of the most difficult and 
delicate duties that, a President is called to perform. Order, iu- 
dustry, fidelity must be secured, or little progress will be made in 
study. The lawlessness and insubordination of young men in 
European Universities, may perhaps be endured in the monarchies 
of the Old World, but are ill adapted to our Republican Institu- 
tions, where one of the first lessons to be learned is, cheerful 
obedience to equitable law. Wisdom and skill are needed to find 
the golden medium between rigid severity on the one hand and weak 
connivance on the other, to learn how the largest liberty may be al- 
lowed to the individual, consistent with that restraint, which the 
moral and intellectual necessities of the conimunity require. 

We should be most happy to present you, Sir, with an assem- 
blage of young men wholly correct in their deportment, and faith- 
ful in the discharge of every duty, but we have not yet attained 
that high distinction, though we believe that in this respect, our 
young men are not surpassed by the students in any other College. 

This key. Sir, will introduce you to the Chapel, the place of our 

[2J 



10 

morning and evening devotions. On you will devolve the duty of 
officiating at the public altar, of directing the minds and hearts of the 
young men to Him, in Whom they live and move and have their 
being, who came on earth to seek and to save that which was lost, 
Who purifies and sanctifies the heart. By your office you are con- 
stituted the guardian of the morals of the young men, and are ex- 
pected to aid them to the knowledge of correct religious principles. 
College students present a most interesting field for moral and re- 
ligious culture. If sometimes wayward and thoughtless;- they are 
also at times docile and prone to accept the counsels of wisdom and 
experience. When we look upon these young men in relation to 
their future work — ^the Governors, the Judges, the Legislators, and 
the Teachers of their countrymen, it is hardly possible to exagger- 
ate the importance of implanting in their minds sound religious 
principles, and of promoting right moral culture. An attempt has 
been^made to divorce religion from education, to exclude it entirely 
from our Institutions of learning, but it has signally failed — the 
people demand almost with one accord, that religion shall be the 
basis of education ; they require, and justly too, that those insti- 
tutions that are designed to train and invigorate the intellectual 
faculties of our ycuth, ami thus arm them with a mighty instru- 
ment for good or evil, shall at the same time, furnish a controlling 
agency to regulate and wisely to direct the awakened and often 
self-confident mental powers, and thus secure the great good' and 
prevent the great evil to the individual and to Society, of a public 
education. Such an agency can be found only in a well-developed, 
wisely cultivated conscience^ founded and educated upon the prin- 
ciples of divine Revelation. 

Middlebury College has ever felt and acknowledged her obliga- 
tioiA to the public in this regard and from the beginning she has 
been highly successful in training men for the public service who 
have recognized the maxims of revealed truth as the rule of life. 
If such have been her principles and her practice through the whole 
current of her past history, she has need at the present day to 
double her diligence in this regard. Religious scepticism may not 
be as bold and defiant as in some former periods, it is, however, not 
the less dangerous. In counterfeit guise it pervades much of our 
popular literature, and thence insinuates jtseif into the minds of 



11 

the young. Under the mantle of seeming goodness, it vitiates the 
principles of sound morality, and calls darkness, light, and light, 
darkness. In works of science it seeks to array the teachings of 
nature against the dictates of Revelation. It appears on all sides 
of us, is active, cautious and persistent. IIow can this spirit of 
evil be successfully resisted and the minds of our students imbued 
with the true spirit of the Gospel ? I know of no method more like- 
ly to succeed than to bring to bear the prepared and sanctiSed minds 
and hearts of instuctors, upon the intellect and conscience of their 
pupils. The circumstances of Society and the tendencies of human 
thought at the present time, seem to require that something more 
should be done in this respect than has been found possible amid 
the multiplied cares and duties of your predecessor. By pursuing 
such a course your Institution would perform an important duty to 
herself and to the public ; and she would also find it entirely con- 
sistent with her true policy, for her best friends are found among 
religious people, and they are her friends, because she avows her 
purpose to inculcate upon her pupils the precepts of Christianity, 
and to commence in all her lessons of literature, science and phi- 
losophy with the maxim-^" The fear of the Lord is the beginning 
of wisdom." 

I' Let your Institution, Sir, be well established on these three found- 
ation principles — thorough intellectual training — order enforced 
by judicious discipline and sound moral and religious culture — and 
you have nothing to fear. It will receive the approbation of the 
wise and good, will secure the patronage of a discriminating public, 
and will not fail to enjoy the smiles of a gracious Providence. 

I congratulate you, Mr. President, on the favorable circumstances 
■which attend your inauguration as President of Middlebury Col- 
lege. Propitious omens appear all around and betoken the cipproach 
of a brighter day. We predict for you a pleasant and prosperous 
administration ; we invoke upon you the perpetual blessings of 
Heaven to guide you in the day of prosperity, and to sustain you 
ia times of diflSculty and discouragement, should such days again 
arise, but we will fervently pray that those periods of darkness may 
be known no morc-T-that the union this day consummated may bo 
the beginning of an unclouded and brilliant career for the Institu- 
tion over which you are called to preside. 



A D D Pw E S S 



OF 



BEV. H. D. KITCHEL, D. D., 



PRESIDENT OP MIDDLEBUPwY COLLEGE. 



CrENTLEMEN OP THE CORPORATION OF MiDDLEBURT COLLEGE : 

I receive with much diffidence the trust you commit to me to-day 
by the hand of my honored predecessor. I should not dare this 
acceptance but for the generous words of cheer with which he has 
strengthened me, and for the precious assurances which come to me 
from so many of my Brothers of the Alumni. Some comfort of 
hope against my fears is found in their confidence and pledged co- 
operation. Nor even with these should I dare it, but for the sure 
faith that is given me that He who has so liberally blessed and 
honored our beloved College in the past, has yet for it in the future 
a still larger place and nobler work. For the accomplishment of 
that work, we pledge to one another to-day, what lies in willing and 
earnest hearts ; and, for the rest, we can but offer ourselves to Him 
who chooses His own ends and means, and rest in the assurance 
that none who loyally work with Him can ever fail. 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

^ In seeking a theme appropriate to this occasion, my thoughts 
have been attracted to the Nature and Scope of that Educational 
T^ork which it is the aim of this Institution to accomplish ; and this 
field of thought will be covered, so fiir as it is our purpose to ex- 
plore it, by defining clearly, in the first place, what it is we aim to 



14 

;S;CC0Tnpli3h by these Educational arrangements ; what is that fruit 

which we seek to ripen by all this scheme of culture and training ; 

by inquiring, then, a little, into the material from which 

,tlvis product is to be wrought, taking account only in some general 

way of the endowment and capacity of the average mind, as related 

to this course of culture : and by considering, then, the scope and 

method of development and training, and the place and function of 

the College in the scheme of .Education. I can promise little that 

is either new or profound in this direction ; but at least we may 

gather some fresh and impressive view of the work entrusted to us, 

.of its intrinsic greatness and solemn import and issues. Approach - 

^ing this theme informally and on a side from which it is not wont to 

'be viewed, we may hope to find new incitement, at least, and it may 

he some practical insight aad valuable aid. Grant me liberty, 

4;herefore, to speak with some freedom of method on these topics, 

which seem to lie fclose to our purpose and to the interests we have 

m trust in this beloved and honored Institution. 

First, then, let us set distinctly before us that consummate pro- 
.duct which in all these msthods of Educational handling it is our 
single aim to secure ; this namely : A complete, well-developed and 
.thoroughly furnished Manhood— whole and complete in all the 
equipment of a ripe Intellectual, Spiritual, and Physical integrity 
. — with each original gift honored by judicious recognition and cul- 
ture, and set in beautiful harmony of the whole — with each faculty 
.^evoked, sharpened, polished and obedient to the Will — each Power 
trained and disciplined to prompt executive energy ; a Manhocd 
strong thus in the completeness of a rounded strength, that on, all 
sides meets and matches every manly claim — master of itself, of all 
it has in original endowment, of all it has won by liberal culture, 
and master therefore of the work that is divinely given it to do 
among men ; such Manhood, brought into spiritual fealty to God 
and Truth, and directed as an Influence and a Power to the noblest 
ends, loyal to Duty and the Right — such Manhood is the grand ul- 
.,4;imate aim of all true Education. This is that beautiful and price- 
less thing, that peerless and consummate fruit which we covet, the 
pride and crown of all our scheme of training, the top and round 
;0f our desire. It is our thought and endeavor to make such men, 



15 

many such, if we may ; cheered amid many partial ap-' 
proximations, and consoled for many failures, by the as- 
surance that in perfecting one such consummate Man, we give 
to the world its rarest ornament and choicest blessinir. Our aim is 
a broad and ample development of the whole being, in the fulness 
of all attainable strength ; but not this alone — we seek this maxi- 
mum of intellectual power and acntncn in a valid and balanced pro- 
portion of all parts of the being; and above all that this perfected 
Power shall be in conscious allegiance to God, playing evenly with 
the Divine Will, swimming with the Divine currents of Love and 
Law, of Charity and Duty. 

Such a result is a composite product ; and the several constitu- 
ents' which enter into it, and the methods by which we may hope tb 
realize it, deserve each to be distinctly considered. 

And here, next, consider how deeply the question of original 
structure and endowment enters into this result. For souls arfe pro- 
foundly differenced in their native grain and contents, in quality 
and quantity of being ; and it is not of any and every soul that thfe 
uttermost culture could realize this royal product of a complete 
Manhood. Much depends on the native cast and measur&'of heart 
and mind. He who works ever by wise and perfect purpose, has 
His own scheme and life-plan in each soul that He launches upon 
existence, and sends forth each from His full hand charged with 
gifts and qualities accordingly. A^ery differently indeed are we 
furnished from the outset, being sent forth with forecast, and equip- 
ped each for his mission and for that history which he is to develope. 
As his day is to be, so every way is the strength that is hidden in 
ea^fh of us. For secretly in His loving prescience, the Father com- 
poses us man by man, each soul by itself, as a distinct Divine in- 
vention, a new Ideal and fresh composition, differing from every 
other in style and proportion of gifts, as God's purpose in this new 
soul is different ; and in each, in the depths of his nature, are laid 
up provisions of strength against all the foreseen needs of his 
career. Culture may enlarge, and occasion may bring out and dis- 
play the gifts ; but they were in him ; and all our Education and 
all our occasions do but discover the man, and show what manner 
of man God made him. 



16 

So it is not in the least true that we come all alike from the 
Parent hand in native contents and structure, all of one mold and 
measure. Not at all are we identical spiritual p arcels, or equal 
capacities to be somehow variously filled up as circumstances shall 
determine. We bring with us our birth-style and |)rifnitive conf- 
teM^, gifted with an almost infinite variety of spiritual quantities 
and qualities, as diverse as our after lives. Each is himself, and 
not any other, of sort and measure quite his own, gifted^; with his 
own indefeasible individuality, strung and pitched for some ne^w 
harmony in the ear of God. There is substantial likeness jvith in- 
finite diversification in detail and combination. As no two are the 
same in all the leaves of the forest, or flowers of the field, or stars 
in heaven ; as- among the myriad persons of men something in look 
or ^ir, in port or expression, sets each apart in the sacred^ preroga- 
tive of ^self-hood ; so in souls of men ; each has its owf> purpos^e 
and equipment, each the complement of all others, each a spiritual 
thread to be woven fitly into the great web of humanity, touching 
and touched on every side, and having something essentially its own 
to contribute to the sum of human character and development. 

So it is provided that, here one and there another, souls are given 
among us that are preconfigured and athirst for culture, divinely 
strung for the rare purposes of Education — elect and prepared souls, 
pregnant with the celestial fire, if not of genius, of that which is 
better in their manly strength and broad validity. They come 
among us anointed to an intellectual priesthood, to a primacy of in- 
fluence and power among their fellows. They are everywhere 
among us, on the farm, in the shop, wearing, their crowns unseen 
in the homes of the poor as well as of the rich, distributed by no 
law that we can exactly expound, following no lines of class or con- 
dition. Blood tells for much, but not for all ; and souls of selectest 
temper and royal mold are dropt by the liberal Father in many " 
an illiterate lineage and ungenial home, as seems good in His sight. 
But wherever found, these choice spirits that thirst for enlargement, 
and devour knowledge as their very bread — these are the flt mate- 
rial for our Educational purpose. These it takes in hand, in the 
rough, all unshaped and incondite, to refine and develope and realize 



It 

the grand possibilities that are in them. It discerns the Apollo ill 
the block, and with plastic and tender skill educes it. 

And in several ways these are the very souls that will be drawn 
within the sweep of our higher Educational methods. 

First of all these are taken up in common with others in our 
schools of rudimental popular education, and receive there the first 
touches of culture. The beneficent despotism of tLe Prussian sys- 
tem is only accepted as our ideal, and is then toned down to the 
temper of our people ; but still the State aims at so much as this : 
that the entire mass of the popular mind shall be taken up and 
treated educationally — that everywhere the Common School shall 
stand open, with facilities inviting, and statutes gently compelling, 
some measure of universal education. For ignorance is criminal 
and the nurse of crime. And we seek therefore for social immu- 
nity and provide defenses against the sure perils of a coarse, brutal 
animalism, by some modicum at least of rudimental culture. The 
aim is beneficent and stands approved by its fruits. It does for 
all what the conditions permit. Biit for the purposes of a broad 
and complete education, all this in effect is merely experimental. It 
discerns the capable, kindles their thirst for deeper draughts, and 
provokes, where it finds it, that inborn appetite for knowledge and 
generous culture which is the birth-mark and assurance of a capa- 
ble soul. These choicest in capacity and endowment are sifted 
out from the mass, inspired to desire, and set forward to receive, if 
they may, the liberal aids of a higher training. These, at length, 
after much sifting in the intermediate probations of preparatory 
handling, are attracted to our higher Institutions. And so it comes 
to pass that the College, at that stage of the process, is, as its name 
imports, a collection of the apt and earnest, a gathering up of the 
elect material, our Collegium of select and thus far approved can- 
didates, to be here set forward by all the appliances of systematic 
culture toward the mark for that prize of complete Manhood. 

Thus in all parts, and especially in the College, our Educational 
Scheme presently becomes organic and establishes all through so- 
ciety its own automatic currents, self-sustaining, by the subtle play 
of elective and attracting influences, which surely cull for it the 
apt and able, wherever they are found, dropping off by the way 



18 



what proves infacile or incapable ; and clasping to her heart the 
rare fit souls that are her jewels. Education bears these up to her 
choicest seats and expends on them heir select assistances. This ia 
the ideal, and with fair allowance for imperfection of method, this 
is the realized issue. Much that is rarely gifted may be lost by the 
way, not recognizedj or barred by unpropitious conditions; true 
genius may miss its way and fail of its mark- ; and on- the other side, 
by accident of fortune smd partial estimates, some may be retained 
that are little worthy. Eat after all that goes rather blindly ia 
the process^ a selection there is^ in each higher grade of education 
from all the lower, appropriating the most available in the intellect 
and heart of the age, and bearing it on to receive completest de- • 
velopment. Prepared souls everywhere feel ihe subtle attraction^ 
and are drawn within the sweep of this process. It reaches dowK 
through all' our primary courses, penetrates every hamlet and home, 
stirs every aspiring spirit that is anywhere athirst for deeper 
draughts; creates the will in them and the way for them, and givea 
us from these, at length, our candidates for the ripe product of 
equipped and ennobled Manhood. 

We have now to consider this higher department of Education — - 
its specific aims — its method^^and implements, for achieving the con- 
summate- result. Assuredly I do not propose any complete discus- 
sion of this great theme ; but my purpose demands some survey of 
the field* 

In the practical light in T/hich we now contemplate it. Education 
includes these three capital aims, namely : Development, Disci- 
pline, Direction : — 

1. The symmetrical unfolding, fo&tering, polishing, strengthening 
of all the capacities aud powers of the mind, in due order, propor- 
tion and degree : — 

2. Such discipline of all these as shall invest the Mind with a 
mastery of itself, and a facile command of all its forces andac^^uisi- 
tions ; and, 

2. That moral culture which shall give to all this development 
of Power, the inspiration of character, and devote it ^ to wise and 
noble ends. 

These seem to fill the educational circle ; and to thes© in their 
order we will give such thought as the time permits. 



19 

The first purpose of Development, then, vre seek to compass by & 
«car efull J dev-ised apparatus of exercises, fitted to clasp the "whole 
•mind, and ply it on all sides, educing and unfolding each power and 
^capacity in their order, by a curriculum of tasks and studies, select- 
ed as far as may be with insight of the needs of Mind, and justified 
by the experience of many generations. Thus largely by a Philo- 
^logical drill and discipline; by a Mathematical training ; by an 
Elementary Scienti^c course ; and by Metaphysical disquisition, wo 
reach and ply in turn every capacity of the mind, and train it to 
•every style of intellectual effort. Little more than an introduction, 
■and some experimental cssnys in these vast fields, can be compassed 
within the limits allowed ; but this is much ; for it is a training in 
^each style, a discipline in every direction. If it does not explore 
widely and exhaust these fields, it gives the alphabet of all Irrvow- 
led^e, and teaches to use it. It is for all future work what the drill 
•of the camp is to the tag of battle. 

'The question need not be muck handled here whether it shall be 
held the chief object of Education to cultivate skilled Power and 
discipline it for future use, or whether the immediate acquisition of 
knowledge shall be the foremost aim. It is the solution which seems 
■best to accord with reason and right sense, t'h.it, as far as practica- 
ble, the scheme of study and traiiiing shall combine tbe.se objects ; 
that such lines of study and such fields of research be chosen, as 
.shall, along with the happiest development and discipline, yield also 
large and precious fruit of knowle'-ge. xVn:l this intent, in fact, 
•characterizes our course of Colleg'atc injtruction. Eiit there are 
•certain ends of culture to be sought, certain profound utilities to 
be secured, in a course of early discipline, which justify and de- 
mand a liberal interpretation of tliis lav*'. Thus, for example, 
nothing can sujply the pla2e of the languages for the cultivation 
of accuracy of thought and criticdl mastery of expression. What 
they give of simple knowledge of every sort might bo gained much 
more directly in o:hir ways; but their chief benefit is quite inde- 
pendent of this, in the discipline of the logical and critical faculty, 
and in the radicil mastery of our own composite tongue — advan- 
ttL^es of priceless value, not to be attained by any other means, and 
more than enough to justify the large place they hold ia our scheme 



20 

of study. They furnisk us the purest molds of thought, and train ua 
to habits of subtle discrimination and critical expression. No course 
of modern languages can ever supply the peculiar culture given by 
an early and thorough familiarity with the Greek and Roman 
tongues. They remain the consummate flower and most perfect 
implement of the human intellect ever yet attained. Dead languages 
we^call them — but they are aglow even yet with a life beyond any 
on the lips of living men ; and to this hour there is nothing dead 
about them, but a people worthy to speak them. 

The development and growth of power is to be sought by a well- 
devised system of exercises, that shall task each faculty in due pro- 
portion and degree — that shall discern the average needs of Mind, 
repressing what is eccentric and abnormal, provoking and rounding 
up what is weak and defective — aiming steadfastly at a large and 
athletic completeness. For that is not Power in its noblest sense 
which stands in the extraordinary development of a single faculty 
or cluster of faculties, leaving other sides of our being shrunken 
and maimed. Completeness is the true Power in every department, 
Physical, Intellectual, Moral — the round and balanced integrity of 
symmetrical fulness, each well-trained faculty complementing and 
sustaining every other. Thus in physical training, the gymnast 
achieves only a pitiable monstrosity who gives himself to a specialty. 
What though he lift his thousand pounds, or match the marvels of 
Blondin ! The clumsy giant and the supple acrobat are weaklings 
for all rational purposes by the side of the athlete, whose balanced 
strength meets and matches, all around, the demands of an earnest 
life. Intellectually, too, we find instances of vicious excrescence or 
defect, in which a faculty or two usurp the sap and life of the 
mind, and the man becomes partial as he becomes prodigious. The 
memory, for example, may absorb all the force of the intellect, and 
dwarfing all the other powers, may subject the man to the tyranny 
of a single faculty ; or the linguistic talent may transcend bounds 
and leave the judgment out of sight ; or the mathematical bias may 
dominate the mind and make the man angular and fractional. And 
such default of symmetry grieves us with even worse distortion in 
the moral character, when one overshadowing virtue appropriates 
the entire strength and beauty of the soul, and the neighboring 



21 

graces, Trbich should shine ia the constellation of worth, die or be- 
come even practical vices by the miserable distortion. 

But this lack of balance, as thus sometimes seen "within these 
several departments, may easily find place also as between these de- 
partments themselves. Our being may be unfolded one-sidedly, 
and the result be a virtual paralysis of all parts save that which 
Tvins the favoritism. Physical training may be pushed to a point 
altogether beyond the real wants of our being, and mind and heart 
be quite overborne in the man by the superlative animal he has be- 
come. Our danger does not much press us. it may be, in this 
direction ; but much cant is current of late, seeking to muscularize 
our civilization and even our Christianity, which makes it fitting to say 
that, up to the point of complete health and easy universal service- 
ableness of the body to all the higher purposes of intellect and soul, 
"we do indeed prize bodily culture, and would give it large place and 
honor in a system of Education ; but beyond that it is an imperti- 
nence to be disesteemed. So the culture of the Intellect may, and 
the peril is far more imminent that it will, easily mount into a mis- 
chievous ascendancy ; and by neglect of body and soul a certain 
preposterous and excrescent style of intellectual brilliancy is often 
attained, like Power, but not truly it, lacking the supports and 
genuine poise [^of Power, unbraced on either hand — for it loses its 
hold above and below, infirm in its footing earthward in the 
neglected body, and parted from Heaven as it fails of Faith. No 
Intellect is whole even in its own proper field, that does not plant 
itself firmly, on the one side, on a basis of stable and manly physical 
validity, and on the other find nutriment and poise and an all-sus- 
taining consistency in a loyal subjection of the whole being to God. 
We need this alliance with the Infinite by the inspiration of Faith ; 
and like Antaeus we must touch earth also, or our strength withers 
and we perish in the air. Only thus can any Intellect attain com- 
pleteness and win the palm of its own possible perfection of Power. 

There is nothing incompatible between this complete intellectual 
development and an altogether sound and vigorous physical health. 
Each, indeed, has need of the other ; for it is quite as certain that 
the perfection of physical integrity — that exaltation and delicate 
tone of the animal nature— that harmonious play of every power, 



22 

whioii in complete health almost intelleetualizes the body — can 
never be attained but in connection with a quite advanced Mental 
and Moral culture, us it is on the other hand, that the highest 
intellectual and moral attainments require the supports of physical 
health and a valid condition of the bodj. Each must suffer from 
defect or abuse of the other. That is not true physical power in its 
best sense which is found in the clumsy boor or the brutal cham- 
pion of the ring. It lacks the ethereal essence which transfigures 
the Apollo, and gives us seimething nobler than the brawn of Her- 
cules. And equally imperfect is that intellectual preeminence that 
is backed by no adequate stamina of bodily soundness. And this 
dependence of Mental on physical well-being is so well established 
that it deserves far more systematic regard than it receives in our 
scheme of Education. Some form of regulated athletic sport and 
manly exercise should find place with us, and supplement our lack 
0^ a complete gymnasium. It is a significant ftxct that in the 
English Universities far less mischief is witnessed than with us in 
the form of shattered nerves and broken health ; and for the obvious 
reason that athletic games and hardy sports form so large a part of 
their Academic training. 

When we have devised a scheaue of exercises best suited to meet 
the average demands of the Mind and evoke its powers in a symmet- 
rical completeness, time, and strenuous regularity, and a measured 
severity of application, are then the main elements of a perfect 
^training. Adequate time — for the healthful growth of a soul de- 
mands these patient and diligent years, stretching the elastic pow- 
ers on ever growing tasks of tempered severity — breaking in each 
refractory faculty — repressing the excessive — evening up the feeble 
— dressing the whole line of the powers into a broad full-breasted 
g^trength, that shall bear down with the compactness and sustained 
force of a phalanx on whatever work lies in the future — such 
,patieDt and punctual essays and proof- tasks of strength are the very 
process of Education. Each power expands by use. It can to-day 
livhat yesterday it could not ; and so the gristle of capability hard- 
^na into bone of Power. We can but even our scheme as to time 
«nd stress of application to the average needs and capacities of 
Mind. Some will outrun, some fail to keep pace in the march. 



25 

But tbo largest product of ripe, well-furnished intellectual coa^ 
pleteness should be ever our ruling aim, and determine all the de- 
tails of the process'. Ah ! these years of culturs' and discipline, 
covering the whole plastic and decisive period of youth, are well 
bestowed and richly recompensed, if they yield us the peerless glory 
of a complete and perfected Man ! And justly, too, may it be re- 
quired that, for such an expenditure, some happy approach to tiit^t 
noble product shall be the sure result. 

But, secondly, not Strength alone is our object — not the utter- 
most enlargement of all the powers, or even their highest measure 
of symmetrical force ; but, distinct from this, an invaluable fruit of 
all this course of culture is found in the Discipline it gives. And 
by Discipline I mean the command of the well- trained .Mind^ov-er 
all its powers atid resources, making all available at-will. It 
makes- all the difference between weakness and strength, whether 
the Mind have itself loell in hand and be able to apply its full 
force at pleasure on imminent work ; or whether, however strong by 
spasms and on opportune occasion, it lack control of itself, its forces- 
unmastered, its faculties capricious and mutinous, working or strik- 
ing work, as the wind wills. Some touch of this evil spirit of way- 
wardness is in ufl all, by default of our damaged nature and by an 
unwise self-handling ; and Education yields no boon more precious 
than that assured self-masteyjr which subjugates all power to the 
will, and enables us to bring all our force to bear at our bidding oa 
the purpose in hand — to do what we can when we must. Many a 
man of acknowledged power and abundant resources, capable of the- 
greatest aclMevements at propitious junctures, finds himself the spor 
of caprice, and lies stranded on the shoals of circumstance, the' 
victim of intellectual mutiny. A venerable scholar and author, 
who wrought well and abundantly in his day, and only lately left; 
us to regret his assistance in sacred study, declared himself so com- 
pletely master of his powers, so sure of himself and all that was in- 
him, that at will he could pledge so many hours as good for so much' 
work— that what he could, he could when he would. It is precise- 
ly what we mean by discipline of the mind. Just this is one prime- 
and invaluable result which we should peremptorily require of i%r 
tourse of Education. And there is no line of professional or lite- 



24 

Tary p'ir'sait in vrhicb this is not the foremost need and the Warratft 
of success* There will still remain a broad margin of uncontroll- 
able influences, of times facile and fruitful, or infelicitous and bar* 
ren; and this play of hidden causes mil tell at times with great 
eifect on the most autonomic mind ; but nothing so efiectually 
delivers us from this perilous caprice, or arms us against its power, 
as the wise and Salutary Discipline of these years of well-ordered 
study. 

This, therefore, should be distinctly and prominently proposed 
a3 an end, and steadfastly held throughout the course, as a vantage 
to be secured, not second even to the largest development of power 
or the amplest acquisition cf knowledge. This disciplinary intent 
should shape the daily regimen and all the detail of times and tasks. 
It should be impressed on the pupil as one df the cardinal points 
which he is to carry, to win this absolute control of his own 
powers ; and all should be so ordered as to favor and require such 
discipline. After* all it must lie decisively with the student him- 
self to win this or not. Let him hold this eVer before him as the 
crowning attainment which shall give practical validity to all his 
other acquisitions. Let it determine his method of study, in exact 
detail, and enter as the Law by which he shall handle himself, into 
the ordering of his tasks, the distribution of his work, the assign-^ 
ment of his hours, through all the years of his Educational course. 
He should hold himself rigorously under rule to this end, giving 
its own appropriate place to each task — its Own certain hours fof 
certain work — sufficient space for each, and held quite sacredly td 
its own allotment ; and then let him rigorously exact of himself the 
due work done within its appropriate limits. Very easily thor 
student may fail to understand the full worth of this diciplinary 
exactness and regularity in the method of study, and fall off into a 
certain^dissoluteness of intellect and a miscellaneous style of ap- 
plication, that will defraud him of one chief benefit of his course. 
It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this point. 
Let me look in upon the method of study in this particular, pursued 
by two pupils of equal gifts and culture in other respects, and ac- 
quitting themselves equally well in the class-room", but the one 
driving his work miscellaneously before him, giving himself earnest- 



,25 

Ijr enough, but loosely, unpunctually, to his taska^ indulging in 
thriftless over-work, satisfied if in any way, by any expenditure of 
time and effort, he may accomplish his task ; the other governing 
himself under a punctual regimen, working by rule, working when 
he does .work, thning his tasks, requiring of the hour its work, 
done then, or held in fault next to not done at all — thus chastising 
each refractory faculty into habit of prompt and trusty obedience : 
and I will tell you from that, like a prophet, that the one will go 
forth girded with executive power, master of situations, a worker 
before whom, in any line, difficulties will make haste to retire, and 
make way for him to his ends : . and the other, with equal gifts and 
resources in every other respect, will bo liable forever to the subtle 
assaults of caprice, and his loose habit, like a besetting incompetence, 
will evermore lie in wait to betray him. It is only by a salutary 
and systematic despotism over ourselves, establishing through a long 
course of Discipline this habit of mental self-mastery, that we gain 
absolute possession of ourselves, and go to the Work of Life justly 
confident of our strength, and ready to give pledge for all reasona- 
ble achievement. 

And this is the bead and front of Self-Education. Pre-eminent- 
ly it is Self-discipline. Aside from this, these years when a rich 
and teeming nature presses the young soul to growth by spontaneous 
expansion, ask only for wise guidance and temperate stimulus of 
culture. If once the taste for liberal learning be awakened, and 
some fair share of 'purpose in life be gained by the young man, 
self-formation must be relied on for the substance of Education. It 
will kindly welcome the judicious assistance of the teacher. But 
that assistance will lie mainly in the inspiration of a kindred ardor, 
in guiding to the most eligible courses cf study, and in remov- 
ing obstacles which might utterly dishearten and repel, without im- 
pairing the habit of self-dependence. It is fairly to be assumed that 
so much of maturity and self-knowledge has been reached by tho 
youth at this stage, and such an apprehension of the demands of his 
future life and of the relation of his present pursuits to future suc- 
cess, that he may be trusted largely to his own self-direction. 

But, thirdly, Education as wo now contemplate it, has also a 
directive function. It has legitimately to do with Moral Culture 
[4] 



26. 

and Discipline, to form character, to inspira Worthy aims, to in&rof 
the soul with love and loyalty to goodness and God. In so far as 
It may, it seeks to set this developed being in his just relations to 
Duty and Truth — to make him in the broadest and deepest sense a 
Religious being-^religated, that is — bound in spirit under fealty to 
Law. It were even a crime to unfold and equip a soul in all this 
panoply of sharpened faculty and heightened power, and send it 
forth lawless, to smite about it in reckless alienation from God and 
Duty. Education is under bonds, so far as it may, to direct the 
forces it generates, and give its finished sons to be the champions of 
Truth and Virtue, the patterns and patrons of Goodness. And by 
all practicable means, with diligence and thoughtful care, this is to 
be a prominent aim, running parallel with all our course of intellec- 
tual training. 

Character is the attitude and habit of the Soul in its relations to 
Moral good and evil. And it is the question before all others, 
whether a being so akin to God Himself, imaging the Divine in this 
panoply and amplitude of powers, a being strung for harmony with 
all that is highest and holiest — whether this being now shall bo 
consciously and heartily religious, religated to the central Goodness 
and the Supreme Will, allegiant* to Truth and Right ; or whether 
he swing off, a wandering orb in the darkness of sin, in disastrous 
severance from God. It is much that the destiny of that being is 
wrapt up in this ; but it is far more, that it decides what shall be 
the bearing and product of his whole spiritual efficiency among men. 
Loyal to good, he is a radiant orb of blessed influences, full of light, 
lit up by the luminous soul within, and beaming from all the open 
windows of his being on the souls around him. But if unsphered 
and in bondage to evil, he goes forth to radiate darkness and cor- 
ruption, tO'be a gushing fountain of mischief and contamination. 

But how in our Educative scheme shall we hope to mold the soul 
to this ? Spiritual delicacies beset every attempt. Our intellectual 
aims and appliances seem to overshadow this. And at the deepest^ 
we recognize our entire dependence on God's grace. Yet much 
may be done directly and indirectly to bring the plastic souls of 
those with whom we have to do under law of Virtue and Christian 
Faith. By a wise and loving supervision, mingling the salutary 



^ 



27 

ftoverity of law with parental tenderness ; by guarding against 
contaminating causes ; by excluding the corrupt ; by a salutary 
discipline, much may bo done ; and still more by tender influential 
approaches, " by paternal vigilance and Christian admonition, by 
example and precept. It tells for much, too, in this direction, that 
we set our whole Institution in the attitude of a positive Christian 
order and aim — Christian in its avowed purpose and manifest 
working. How much there is in this certain attitude and well- 
understood aim and spirit of a School of Learning — how far it goes 
to mold and determine the thoughts and intents, the very life and 
character of its sons, may be seen illustratively in respect to a virtue 
not very remote from Religion itself This is a Loyal Institution. 
With little profession of this loyalty — y/ith little felt need to profess 
it — silently but clearly it has inculcated patriotism by all the weight 
of its teachings and influence. And lately, when the hour of trial 
came, when every head and heart and arm was summoned to tho 
defense of our imperiled land, it is on honorable record that in all 
manner of .aid and comfort, by tongue, and pen, and sword, full 
service was rendered by those who had their training and inspiration 
here. So, but with a more avowed intent, this is a Christian 
College, and not only sets itself silently in position and influence as 
Buch, but spares not to wield every legitimate Christian means to 
consecrate each soul it trains to that higher fealty which we owe 
to the Divine Government. Let the record tell how well this aim 
has been held and realized. With no spirit of self-applause, but 
"with humble gratitude and precious encouragement, in proof of our 
genuine Christian purpose and of a wise and efficient Christian 
methpd, we point to these two crowning facts, that with few excep- 
tions each class thus far that has gone forth from us has in its time 
been visited by the reviving grace of God's Spirit, and that a larger 
proportion of our Alumni have consecrated their attainments and 
their lives to Christian service in our own or foreign lands than 
from any other American College. 

Nor is there need that in this strenuous endeavor to inculcate 
religipus principle and inspire genuine piety, we should incur from 
any candid mind the reproach of bigotry or sectarian narrowness. 
There ia height and breadth in this Divine Temple of Christian 



23 

Truth, that shame partisanship and awe down the audacity that would 
cramp its grand catholicity in the straits of a sect. If as an Insti- 
tution our patronage and direction have been and are mainly in the 
hands of one Christian denomination, it is simply to secure unity to 
its counsels and efficiency in its operations. And far more cordially 
do we welcome all Christian denominations to share its privileges, 
and far more secure and valuable are those privileges to all Christian 
people, than if their guardianship were jealously divided among 
the denominations, or were divorced from them and left to the 
management of the State. Not a single instance can yet be named 
in' our country of a Literary Institution that has thus severed itself 
from Christian control and trusted its administration to the shifting 
winds and currents of State management, and found such permanent 
prosperity as should commend its policy to our imitation. If one 
or two seem now to ride safely and prosperously under that regimen, 
the experiment is still too fresh, the perils are too obvious, the 
causes of discord and disease are too natural and inveterate, and the 
wrecks of similar experiments lie too thickly strewn along the 
shores of our educational history, to inspire aught but thankfulness 
that the State has nothing else to do with us than to defend us in our 
liberty of work, and we nothing else to do with the State than to 
render it in all ways our loyal honor and loving service. The 
advantages from State patronage and Governmental grants, however 
munificent and seductive, are cumbered with conditions that warn 
us to prize our liberties above all gilded bonds. Give us open field 
and free scope for our work of intellectual and Christian culture, 
and we thankfully leave to grasp who will the specious seductions 
of political patronage and endowed specialties. 

We have thus filled as we could our proposed circle of thought. 
It should be added, that it is not in the so-called Professions alone 
that these several constituents of a true Education are to bo desired. 
This complete development — this exact discipline — this grace of 
character — are each beyond price, whatever place in life and society 
their possessor may fill. True it is that with us, for the most 
part, Education to any liberal extent has a quite definite and 
predetermined purpose from the first. The youth has his aim, and 
seeks direct equipment for his field. But an educated man is not • 



29 

by necessity a Professional man, nor is his culture in tLat case a 
frustrate thing. It is a possession, independent and absolute in 
itself. It imbues the mind with liberal tastes, inspires the scholarly 
temper, and opens the soul on every side to all that is refined and 
elevating. We have not, indeed, a class like the aristocracy of 
other lands, "whose sole aim is a life of elegant leisure ; but as we 
advance in wealth and culture, there will be in our country an 
increasing number who find themselves exempt from the necessities 
of a professional career, at liberty to lead a life of liberal culture, 
devoted to a broad and elegant scholarship. And more and 
more, in all non-professional avocations, we may hope that educated 
minds will abound, elevating and dignifying all the walks of life, 
adorning the farm and the counting-house, as well as the bar and 
the pulpit, with the scholarly temper and tastes. And it is to be 
deemed a serious failure if these years of inspiring culture and 
suggestive study do not possess the soul with a craving for wider 
outlooks and richer repasts than are found within any professional 
limits. The Educated man is free of the World of Mind. Nothing 
should be foreign to him of all that is stirring in the great brain of 
the race. For him Philosophy pushes its meditations, and Art 
creates its ideals, and Science conducts its researches. To him 
Genius appeals as its legitimate umpire and proper patron. He is 
of the Brotherhood of Intellect, akin to all workers in the World of 
Thought. In some sort he has given bonds to aid as he may in the 
grand onward march of Mind, or at least to assist, as an interested 
and applauding spectator of whatever is well done anywhere, in any 
sort, among the Thinkers and Actors of his time. 
. We build greater than we know, whenever we lay our band to a 
true work. We do not know what is in it when we plant the seed 
and nurse the feeble germ, which in its ripeness comes to so much. 
This unconsciousness commonly, marks the early stages of a great 
thing. In the morning sow thy seed and withold not thy hand in 
the evening. Put forth your best, forecasting hopefully, with aims 
that deserve success ; and of these- God shall take up such as are 
found vital and fall in with His great scheme, and give them growth 
and greatness beyond your utmost thought. Not one of all our 
loyal and generous endeaTcrs shall be fruitless ; but among them 
God will choose some to glory. 



ao 

Tho venerable Founders of Middlebnry College wrought thus in 
their day ; and God has put honor on their work and set it among 
His precious agencies of good. Within less than the life-time of a 
man, it has borne much fruit, abundantly honoring God and blessing 
the world. Its eleven hundred Alumni are its crown and the seals 
of its worth. They have been noble and done nobly in every line of 
honor and influence. In Church and in State, in'^all manner o£ 
service to God and men, as edueators, as civil functionaries, as 
heralds of Christianity, they are everywhere peers of the foremost. 
And among them are names which the world has written in its list 
of Consummate Men. 

As this beloved Institution had its origin in the want and the 
faith of the Churches of this Commonwealth, so mainly it has bad 
its patronage and endowment, and still has its most valued support, 
in their steadfast and munificent regard. Here has been its tower 
of strength, its refuge and relief in seasons of depression and adver- 
sity ; and here is its warrant of hope in the future, We would barter 
this for no adventitious . distinction or emolument. More than all 
else we prize this assurance that Middlebury College rests in the 
loving embrace of the Churches and People of Vermont — the child 
of the Churches and the College of the Commons — nurtured in its. 
infancy by their faith and liberality, sustained by their ajQfectionato 
fidelity in crises of doubt and weakness, and ever held tenderly to 
their hearts as precious and worthy, of their trust and generous 
fostering. The life of these Christian communities is in its veins. 
Eminently it is cradled in the affections of the People, and held close 
to their homes and hearts. In larger proportion than elsewhere 
its students are from the ranks of the Common People, from homds 
of humble industry, heirs only to the competence which lies in 
moderate desires, in virtuous tastes and habits, and a hardy training. 
It has not changed in this, we are. confident, in the lapse of one 
generation ; and back at that period, of the nearly Two Hundred 
who walked these halls within my acquaintance, almost the entire 
number were from rural homes, -and a large share of them sons of 
Vermont farmers and mechanics. In those seven classes to which 
my memory reverts, classes that gave noble names to the lists of 
honor in Church and State, were many who fought theirway up to 



31 



College through poverty and scanted opportunities, which notliin^^ 
but hunger of the soul could have conquered, and came hither witb 
a purpose and a consciousness of power, inspiring them to endure* 
hardships and narrow means, and bj frugal devices make a way 
where none seemed possible — many who under such almost desperate 
auspices rose to the honors of a sound and noble scholarship, and 
bore hence what was better than all honors, a character hardened 
and versatile from their triumph over difficulties. It was a triumph 
that had in it all triumphs for the future. For they went forth as 
trained athletes on the arena of life. And the many homes and 
kindred circles, that held them tenderly in helpful care while they 
accomplished the race, kept warm and fresh the intimate sympathy 
between College and People. 

We prize this sympathy of the People. We accept it as our 
work in trust to receive their sons in their young promise and thirst 
for culture, and guide their development and mold their manhood,- 
The happy influence of this Institution through a wide vicinity is 
attested by the large number of strong and useful men which our 
State has given to the world, trained and equipped for their mis- 
sion in these halls. And we claim that this sympathy and favor of 
the Churches and the People are well merited — that this College is 
in a peculiar sense their servant, their property, their necessity. It 
deserves their confidence and cordial patronage and support, both 
for the work it has already so well done, and for the service it is 
now moie than- ever prepared to render. For now, by the blessing 
of God and the favor of liberal friends, it stands in better equip- 
ment for its work than ever, in all the apparatus of a generous 
training. It has a complete corps of Instruction, most of 
them of tried aptitude and approved quality in their respective 
chairs, and all of them devotedly resolute that Middlebury College 
shall lack for its success no service that lies within their power. 
Its halls and grounds are worthy of their purpose, and do honor to 
the wise munificence that has clothed them with beauty. And now 
also the fundamental lack, which has been our chronic grief and 
trial, the want of an adequate endowment, is in a fair way to be 
speedily supplied. That once accomplished, with the continued 
favor of Heaven tpon it, this College has before it an ampler field- 



32 

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of usefulness than ever. What it has done iu the past is but the 
aaniple and warrant, we trust, of what it shall more abundantly 
accomplish in coming years. We point to that work already well 
done, as specimen work, the promise of which we hold ourselves 
pledged to redeem m the future, in a richness of fulfilment, if God 
will, beyond measure of our most hopeful thought. Give us only 
the opportunity and the material for this work. Give us your sons, 
your confidence, and your prayers. Revive the Educational zeal 
and processes throughout the State, especially those Academies and 
Seminaries of preparatory grade, which are the feeders of an In- 
stitution like this, but which seem of late to have lost somewhat of 
their efficiency. The College should stand in our estimation as an 
integral part of our system of Popular Education, filling an indis- 
pensable place in the series of Schools, rising in graded tiignity 
from the lowest to the highest. There is not a hamlet or school- 
district in the commonwealth that is not in intimate relations to the 
College — not a home among these hills that may not feel itself in 
sympathetic communion with it, for what it has done, or may yet 
do, for some beloved inmate. Let us cherish these relations of af- 
fectionate interest, and cultivate a still more cordial and fruitful 
regard. It should be our ambition to imbue our entire population 
with a love of Learning and Virtue, and carry still higher the just 
fame of this Switzerland of New England for intellectual and 
moral pre-eminence. That fame even now gladdens every son and 
lover of the Green Mountain State, wherever he goes throughout 
our country ; for names that are familiar and dear in these halls are 
named with honor wherever genius and worth are prized, wherever 
enterprize and loyalty and Christian work are in demand. Let U3 
perfect and perpetuate this praise by sending forth from these hills 
and from the culture of these halls still more abundantly our well- 
trained sous to be, in every part of our Land, the prized and hon- 
ored leaders in every worthy work. 



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